What's gone wrong, if you find yourself turning 30 without being initiated into the mysteries of love?

LOVE ALIEN is a filmmaker's POV at his life's biggest problem. Accompanied by his camera, he explores the unknown world of lovers. On this journey he encounters relationship counselors, wardrobe consultants, partygoers, Valentine's Day shoppers, a neighbor's cat, his own family – and women.

A cinematic attempt to find the first girlfriend.

About

People refer to them as hopeless cases, total beginners or people without experience. They've never held hands or made out at the movies. They don't know how to find a partner, how to make love work. They've fallen in love but were never loved back. Still, you would never know it just by looking at them. They come in all shapes and sizes: skinny and overweight, male and female, young and old. Unseen and unkissed, they suffer in silence, forced to come to terms with a life lived alone – a life that always feels temporary because, no matter what, they just can't give up hope...

LOVE ALIEN is a film told in the first person: an inside look at having to live single in a world where love is everywhere. It’s the search for an answer to the question “Why?”, for an end to loneliness, for a way into the world of lovers.

Documentary filmmaker Wolfram Huke carried a small camera around with him for an entire year, from his 29th to his 30th birthday. His original plan was to find a partner, but that didn't work. Both women and love proved camera-shy. Instead, Wolfram pointed the camera at his own lifestyle, took short excursions into the world of lovers and began to work on himself. The result is a merciless examination of himself and of others that brings many things to light – just no easy answer.

Director's Statement

Every filmmaker has a list of movies they want to make someday. The concept behind LOVE ALIEN was always at the top of my list: the struggle faced by people who can't find a partner. The topic’s important because it affects me personally; it's something I'm confronted with every day. I found myself frustrated over and over again by things I read or saw on TV, because they were ignorant, insulting, superficial or meaningless – and sometimes they were ignorant, insulting, superficial AND meaningless.

My original plan was to make a conventional documentary with me behind the camera – and other people dealing with the same situation in front of it. The only reason I started shooting from the first-person perspective, basically using the camera as a journal, was to help me come up with ideas for my film. Talking to friends and colleagues, I began to wonder if the first-person perspective might not even be the better approach. If I, as a filmmaker, would be willing to be as open and honest as possible (something that I'd hoped my protagonists would do, too) then focusing on myself could be the best way to get a close-up look.

But there was the risk that I could end up acting instead. Documentary filmmakers typically give their protagonists enough time to get used to the camera so that they eventually forget it's there. But when you're the director and the protagonist at the same time, there's no room for that. I'm the one turning on the camera. Because it's impossible for me to surprise myself or to quietly observe my own behavior, there was no way to be sure that I would always act naturally. Still, I had the feeling that I could manage to be myself in front of the camera, at least to a certain degree. So I launched myself into the making of LOVE ALIEN.